Zimbabwe election crisis: LIVE

Tuesday 8 April 2008 06.15 EDT
First published on Tuesday 8 April 2008 06.15 EDT

The spotlight remains on the high court. Zimbabweans have been waiting for the court's ruling on whether it will consider a request by the opposition to force electoral officials to release the results of the presidential election. In another legal development, police said seven poll officials were due to appear in court charged with undercounting votes cast for President Robert Mugabe.

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11.40am

As Zimbabweans await the high court's decision, the excellent Business Day paper in South Africa carries details of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's surprise cross-border visit. The paper says Tsvangirai's meeting with Jacob Zuma, president of the African National Congress, could signal a harder line from South Africa towards Mugabe.

"Zuma is likely to take a more tough line on Robert Mugabe, although he has to walk a delicate balance so as to not upstage President Mbeki's efforts. But given the tone of the NEC (national executive committee) discussions, Zuma could well rebuke Mugabe publicly, which will be a massive departure from our previous stance," a senior ANC NEC member tells the paper.

11.45am

The wait for the high court decision is over. It decides that the Movement for Democratic Change's application for the release of the presidential election results is urgent - so why did it take four days to make its decision - and may proceed.

"I find that the application is urgent. The case should now proceed," says judge Tendai Uchena. The judge has begun to hear arguments from lawyers from the MDC and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), which is opposing the application.

12.30pm

Comrade Fatsovividly describes the mood of fear and apprehension in the current state of limbo.

Fear is "our familiar staple diet in this hungry land. Msavaya, a comrade of mine, was in the townships yesterday when a policeman announced to a group of drinkers oustide a bottle store 'We may not have a president but that doesn't mean that public drinking is now legal'. The police know it just as the waitresses do. We are in limbo. And we are in fear because we know this beast. It has started kicking and lashing out".

Briggs Bomba, a Zimbabwean-born economist working in Washington, who spent two weeks in Zimbabwe around election time, says he can attest to the unfolding humanitarian disaster.

"An old man I talked to in one of the rural areas told me that 'now we wait to see which bush the goats are feeding on, and we eat that because we know it will not be poisonous'. Their village had always voted Zanu-PF, this time they voted out one of Mugabe's ministers despite all their fears of what could happen. They voted to restore their dignity."

1pm

Mugabe has not been much in the public eye since the March 29 elecfions. He was shown on TV meeting African leaders last week, but that's about it. The Associated Press reports that he appears to be "hunkering down" - shades of Richard Nixon staying cooped up at the White House during the Watergate scandal. African Union officials have been unable to get in touch with Mugabe in recent days, the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told the European Parliament, AP says.

2.30pm

Reuters reports that more than 60 mostly white Zimbabwean farmers have been evicted from their land by "war veterans" since the weekend, citing a farmers' union.

"The situation is very severe. The evictions are continuing right round the country. We have over 60 farmers evicted as of this morning. Every couple of minutes my phone is ringing with another case of eviction," Commercial Farmers' Union president Trevor Gifford tells the agency.

2.35pm

The Indian cricket board has postponed a one-day series in Zimbabwe planned for June. An Indian official says it's a scheduling problem and will take place later. Perhaps the official was too diplomatic to say that it's because the times are hardly propitious for a cricket series.

2.40pm

A stark warning from the MDC, which merits a Reuters "urgent" flash. The opposition is accusing Zanu-PF of trying to provoke it into violence in order to declare a state of emergency and warns of a possible descent into bloodshed without intervention from African states.

2.45pm

A Washington Post editorial echoes many bloggers by criticising South Africa's Thabo Mbeki for being "inexcusably slow" to use his influence in the crisis

"... Thabo Mbeki claimed Saturday that there was "time to wait." In fact there is not: If Mr Mugabe's violent campaign to remain in power is to be forestalled, Mr Mbeki and other African leaders must act immediately," the Post says, without spelling out what exactly Zimbabwe's neighhours should do.

3pm

Briggs Bomba, whom I have already cited, is one of those who denounces the deafening silence from Zimbabwe's neighbours.

"Where is the moral outrage in this clear case of daylight robbery? Diplomacy seems to have been redefined to 'see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil' within the old boys' club. Africa is not helped by this blind, uncritical support amongst its leaders."

3.25pm

Thanks to Kubatana.net ~ an online home for Zimbabwean activists - for picking up this gem from the Foreign Office website, a blog from a British diplomat who was an observer during the presidential vote. Philip Barclay's posting deserves to be read in full; here is a sample of his vivid report from Bikisa, deep in rural Masvingo, a Mugabe stronghold.

"The presiding officer asks for the votes to be counted. The smallest pile is Simba Makoni's - 11 votes. The middling pile is Mugabe's - 44 votes. Amazingly, incredibly, the Pisa-pile belongs to Morgan Tsvangirai. The polling officer gets tongue-tied at 'one hundred and twenty-seven' and loses count. She sighs desperately and starts again. 167. Tsvangirai has won with about three-quarters of the vote... Bikisa, of course, is only one of 9,400 polling stations. So my result is just one small head of mealie in a very big field. But it's suggestive, and as I travel round other polling stations and speak to British embassy and Dfid (Department for International Development) colleagues in remote parts of every province, it's the same story. Tsvangirai has done well and his Movement for Democratic Change has made gains in areas where its activists used to be beaten for wearing a party t-shirt."

4.45pm

One of the striking things about this crisis is how isolated both protagonists look. Mugabe is a pariah in western eyes and is an embarrasment to African leaders although they refrain from criticisng him openly. But Tsvangirai cuts an equally forlorn figure. The west issues messages of support but can do little in terms of practical help. Other African leaders seem to be leaving the MDC leader to his own devices, not even offering verbal support.

John Makumbe, a much-quoted political scientist at the University of Zimbabwe, reinforces the point about Tsvangirai's lonely struggle. He says MDC officials told him Tsvangirai had sent delegations to Tanzania and South Africa last week.

"The same message has come through: that there is little, if anything, they can do apart from urging Mugabe to allow (the electoral commission) to release results and take proper steps thereafter in relation to the law," Makumbe told the Associated Press.

For more on the Zimbabwean elections, including audio reports and an interactive guide, click here.